What is your #1 diet vice? Soda? Fast food? Television? If you are like millions of other Americans, one of these top three vices is ruining your attempts at weight loss. And according to Julia Griggs Havey, breaking just one of these bad habits can change your entire life!
In THE VICE-BUSTING DIET – A 12-Week Plan to Break Your Worst Food Habits and Change Your Life Forever by Julia Griggs Havey with Dr. J. Patrick Havey (St. Martin’s Press, July 25, 2006; Copyright 2006 by Julia Griggs Havey), Havey presents her plan to help you forever break the bad habits that stand in your way to reaching permanent weight loss.
What makes Julia Griggs Havey different from every other diet book author? Ten years and 130 pounds ago, Havey made a decision to change her life forever. She had tried every single fad diet and realised that completely changing her way of eating to exclude entire food groups was not the right answer for her.
THE VICE-BUSTING DIET is the plan she created that enabled her to focus on the diet vice that was getting in the way of her reaching and maintaining her ideal weight. Now, Havey is ready to help you beat your diet vices by replacing bad habits with permanent, healthy behaviours.
What is a Diet Vice?
You may be wondering, “What exactly is a diet vice?” Havey defines it as “any habitual action that is keeping you from reaching and maintaining a healthy weight.” Examples of diet vices could include: eating a dozen chocolate chip cookies every day at noon; drinking a gallon of regular soda every day; daily sitting on the couch glued to the television for hours at a time; or regularly eating portion sizes that are too large – even of healthy food. A diet vice food can be an individual food (pizza, chocolate, ice cream), a common food ingredient (caffeine, refined sugar, salt) or a group of foods (fast food, fried foods, pastries).
Keys to Successful Weight Loss
Don’t take on too much at once. After personally losing 130 pounds and spending years of helping people lose weight, Havey has come to the conclusion that the answer to America’s obesity problem lies with each of us overcoming our diet vices. But how is that done? Simply, one step at a time. If you have ever tried losing weight in the past but failed, it may be because you tried to do too much too fast. Havey explains, “There is no really good reason that I can think of, or that I’ve read about, for changing your diet overnight. Your body needs time to adjust – so does your mind.” Understanding what a diet vice is and identifying the top one or two in your life comprise your first step on the road to successfully changing your weight – and your life.
Take your current lifestyle into account. No two people – or dieters – are the same. We have different body types and different metabolisms; we have different types of jobs, hobbies, stresses, issues, responsibilities and vices. No one eating plan will work for everyone. Havey states, “Our lifestyles are a major factor in determining how easily we can handle something new in our lives. And the more easily a dietary approach adapts to our current lifestyle, the more successful it will be.”
The Vice-Busting Diet Plan
Havey emphasises that the key to success of the Vice-Busting Diet Plan isn’t a matter of following the right eating plan; it is a matter of getting rid of the wrong eating plan. This is done by incorporating simple, unintimidating steps into your daily routine. Getting Started – Weeks 1 – 3 A 21-day plan that really works!
Week 1: Busting Soft Drinks – With Adequate Water Intake Goal: Consume water 90 percent of the time.
Week 2: Busting Fast Food – And Other Food Vices Goal: Replace vice with a healthy substitute.
Week 3: Busting Television – Reduce or Replace TV Time Goal: Exercise 30 minutes a day, three days a week.
Ongoing Plan – Weeks 4 – 12 And Beyond! The following nine weeks, and beyond, are focused on mastering the three healthy habits developed in the first three weeks: drinking water, eliminating food vices, and exercising. Havey includes a point system to track progress, complete with rewards to encourage and motivate readers.
Havey concludes with “Secrets to Staying Fit – Inside and Out” and a plan for “Staying on Track for Greater Health and Fitness.” There is even a section of “Quick and Healthy Recipes” for you to try at home.